This invention relates to a new teaching method and device for teaching students how to read Japanese. The Japanese language, like other Far East languages, is written using Chinese characters called kanji. Learning all of the kanji is close to impossible. In fact, a person knowing only about two thousand (2000) kanji is considered literate in Japanese.
The traditional method of teaching a student the Japanese language generally starts with teaching the phonetic kana syllabary. Kana consists of 46 characters that define each of the phonetic sounds of the Japanese language. The kana syllabaries are very similar to the western alphabet in that they can be used to write words phonetically.
The next step in teaching Japanese is teaching students kanji so that they can read Japanese text. Most teaching devices for teaching kanji are directed to teaching the basic two thousand (2000) kanji. These systems generally comprise of teaching the student the kanji which are taught in Japanese elementary schools or by taking kanji off of a standard list. The elementary school kanji consist of approximately 1000 kanji and are basic vocabulary. However, learning two thousand (2000) kanji to be literate, is still a very difficult, time consuming task.
Adult Americans need a system that will enable them to read the text of Japanese periodicals such as the Chuu'oo Kooron and the Bungei Shunjuu respectively the equivalent of Foreign Affairs and the Atlantic Monthly. The Japanese learn approximately 1000 kanji in six years of elementary school. Usually, Adult Americans do not have this amount of time to learn kanji.
Thus, there is a need for a method that can teach one how to read kanji characters in a simple yet meaningful way so as to avoid memorizing thousands of such characters as well as to avoid the inherent redundancies (duplication of radical/kanji homophones) in the prior art in systems. The present invention provides one method which satisfied that need.